Found in John Alden’s house, built in 1653 using material from an earlier house erected in 1632, at 105 Alden Street in Duxbury, Massachusetts “in a secret protective cubbyhole near the front door of the home” during a 1924 renovation, this wheel-lock bears makers’ marks on the lock and barrel indicating it was made by the Beretta, family of Brescia, Italy, known to have been in business since 1526.

It is the only firearm brought over on the Mayflower known to have survived and it is preserved today in the collection of the National Firearms Museum operated by the NRA.

Amazing– and I know that address! I lived about 5 miles north of it on Duxbury marsh but just north of the Marshfield line in Green Harbor, in the 70’s, as did a lot of the McCabe’s, my mother’s family. That address– where the gun was– is very near Daniel Webster’s house…